By the way, this trend continued for two more election cycles. In 1972 the Oakland A’s (American League) win was followed by a Richard Nixon (Republican) victory; and in 1976 the Cincinnati Reds (National League) win was followed by a Jimmy Carter (Democratic) victory. This correlation between the World Series winner and the presidential party continued for seven straight elections and came to an end with the 1980 victories of the Philadelphia Phillies (National League) and Ronald Reagan (Republican).

With 2012 being an election year I thought it would be fun to revisit this “Coincidence” article to see how the trend has held up since its publication 40 years ago. In doing so, I also looked at the outcomes of World Series and presidential elections prior to 1952 as well. Here’s what I found.